Mr. Felix Ihenacho, a retired Air Force officer, has threatened to use the police to hunt down Ms Opeyemi Lawal, a reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) following the publication of a news story on a land dispute for which he failed to respond when he was contacted by the non-profit news organization.
Mr. Iheanacho reportedly used the police to intimidate and arrest one Mr. Joseph Oluigbo, an Abuja-based furniture upholsterer, over a land tussle in April.
Mr. Oluigbo was released by the police on May 20 after spending one month in detention. When FIJ called Felix Ihenacho for comments on May 20, his line wasn’t available. WhatsApp and text messages also sent to him the following day were not responded to.
On May 23, 2024, FIJ published a story of the arrest on April 20, 2024, of Joseph Oluigbo, an Abuja-based furniture upholsterer, by officers of the Nigeria Police Force, Abuja, for failing to provide the people he had stood as surety for in a land dispute involving Mr. Ihenacho and the Uzoma family of Umuokwaraku in Imo State. The story had Ms Lawal’s byline.
Prior to writing the story, the reporter had reached out to the retired officer to get his side of the story but he was unreachable through his phone line. She sent an SMS and a whatsApp message but he did not respond to any of these. Thereafter, FIJ went to the press with the story.
After its publication, Mr. Ihenacho called FIJ on June 17 asking to speak with Opeyemi Lawal, the reporter who wrote the story and had contacted him back in April for his reaction before going to press.
He continued to call FIJ office until June 20 when Ms Lawa answered the phone and he requested for FIJ office address. When the reporter insisted that the conversation could be held over the phone rather than in person, he threatened to use the police to track FIJ down.
He continued to request for the location of FIJ and when he was directed to the internet for information on FIJ, he flared up and said he would ensure that the police were sent after FIJ and Lawal.
He threatened: “I am going to hand over this case to the appropriate agency, and I am going to get you. I am going to track you. I am going to come after you because you are giving me the impression that you are a paid agent in the first place.”
